FILE PHOTO: AMRAN HOSSAIN

Visiting Dhaka in January, it felt like the climate of fear that had pervaded the country for many years had finally been lifted.

I met with female university students who had been part of a protest movement that successfully ousted former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her abusive Awami League government. These women, mostly in their 20s, talked about a sense of freedom that they had never experienced before.

Hasina held on to power for more than 15 years after she won office in 2008, with sham elections in 2014, 2018 and 2024 and a campaign of violence and intimidation against the opposition.

Meanwhile, her government clamped down on critics, even jailing people for critical social media posts. Many civil society leaders either fled into exile or went underground, fearing arrest. Hundreds of Bangladeshis became victims of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances by security forces. Others were arbitrarily arrested and tortured.

Hasina’s political opponents faced multiple charges and unending harassment. Among them was Nobel Laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus. One year ago, a Bangladeshi court sentenced him to a six-month jail sentence on politically motivated charges.

Fast-forward to today, Yunus is heading the interim government as its chief adviser and has met with Human Rights Watch (HRW) to discuss the findings of our new report, “After the Monsoon Revolution: A Roadmap to Lasting Security Sector reform in Bangladesh.”

A newly formed inquiry commission on enforced disappearances has estimated that there were 3,500 disappearances during the Hasina period. It is recommending the dismantling of the Rapid Action Battalion (Rab), which has overseen killings, disappearances, and torture with impunity. It’s a far cry from 2021 when we released our report documenting a widespread pattern of disappearances and were met with blanket denials.

Now, the interim government has formed commissions to recommend reforms to key sectors including the electoral system, justice system, public administration, police, anti-corruption office, and the constitution. Politically motivated charges, like the ones against Yunus, have been dropped.

But these gains are fragile. Hard-won progress will be lost without swift and structural reforms that can withstand pressure by forces in and outside the government that wish to derail human rights reforms.

Institutions that were subject to political capture under Hasina, like the police, find it all too easy to repeat mistakes of the past, just changing the political stripes of the targets. Already, over 1,000 cases have been filed against tens of thousands of people, mainly Awami League members, accusing them of murder, corruption or other crimes. While those involved in criminal acts should be held to account, mass complaints without adequate evidence only undermine justice.

Meanwhile, members of security forces, worried that they might now face prosecution, are threatening families to keep them from giving evidence to the inquiry commission on enforced disappearances.

Religious and ethnic minority communities have also faced reprisal attacks since the Awami League government was ousted. Homes and properties of Awami League leaders have been vandalised.

Just as Hasina would insist that her political opponents were “traitors,” now critics of the interim government are deemed to be supporters of her fascist government. The interim government initiated Operation Devil Hunt on February 8, which one police officer says is being “conducted to combat Awami fascism.” As many as 12,500 people have been arrested in three weeks, but the authorities need to be careful because describing citizens as “devils” can lead to human rights violations by law enforcement or vigilantes.

Earlier this month, the UN human rights office released its report on security force violence during the protests that ousted Hasina, finding that over 1,400 people may have been killed. UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk recommended “a comprehensive process of truth-telling, healing and accountability, and to redress the legacy of serious human rights violations and ensure they can never happen again,” and offered assistance “in this vital national accountability and reform process.”

To help cement the reforms, the Bangladesh government should bring a resolution at the upcoming UN Human Rights Council session in March under Item 10. The resolution should request technical assistance, further investigations, and monitoring and reporting by UN-backed human rights experts.

A resolution brought by the Bangladesh government would not be punitive, but would be an opportunity to garner international support and buy-in for the human rights reforms they want to pursue.

As the penholder, Bangladesh would have ownership of the text and control over the commitments and outputs. For Bangladeshis, a resolution that requests independent public reporting could also help to counter the growing misinformation and disinformation campaigns that are stoking grievances and seeking to undermine the interim government’s reforms. It would make it more difficult for vested interests to undermine human rights progress.

There are precedents for this. Honduras initiated an Item 10 resolution in relation to its penitentiary, security, and justice systems, adopted by the council by consensus in 2023. It requested the UN human rights office to provide technical assistance and capacity building to national civilian authorities in penitentiary, security, and justice matters, in order to improve human rights in Honduras.

As one of the female student leaders told us, “We don’t want to go back to how things were before.” That means lasting reforms, strong institutions, and empowered people, so that there is never again scope for authoritarianism. No Bangladeshi should have to sacrifice their life again to win democracy.